Sill plate for elevator doors



"Mairhfi. 1925. 2 1 1,529,122 1 CAJ.H$CHER SILL PLATE FOR ELEVATOR DOORSFiled July 27, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet l ammufoz J fisawm Q vitnaoo March10, 1925. 1,529,122

C. J. FISCHER SILL PLATE FOR ELEVATOR DOORS Filed July 27 1922ZSheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 19, 1925.

CHARLES J. Fisonna, or on oaeo, ILLINo'Is.

SILL PLATE non ELEVATOR noon-s.

Application filed July 27, 1922. Serial No. 577,917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. FISCHER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful improvements in Sill Plates for ElevatorDoors; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in sill plates adapted to bridgethe gaps be tween the sills or lower ends of door frames opening into anelevator shaft, and the elevator, whereby trucks and the like may bemore readily moved from the elevator onto the floor or vice versa.

One object of the invention is to provide a pivoted sill plate which iswell adapted for use in connection with a vertically sliding door havingat least one section which moves downwardly to open position, thearrangement being such that when this door section is lowered, the sillplate will extend over the same for engagement with the elevator,whereby when the door section is again raised, the sill plate will bemoved to an inoperative position thereby.

A further aim is to provide the downwardly moving door section withnovel means for engaging the sill plate and moving itto operativeposition when thedoor section is lowered to open position.

/Vith the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subjectmatter hereinafter described and claimed, the descriptive matter beingsupplemented by the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing one form of my improved sillplate pivotally mounted within the lower end of a door frame at one sideof an elevator shaft, the

door being opened and the sill plate shown in lowered position.

Figure 2 is a detail vertical section with the parts standing as inFigure 1.

Figure 3 is a duplicate of Figure 2 with the exception that itillustrates the lower door section partially raised and the sill platein its raised inoperative position.

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing a slightly difierent formof construction.

Figure 5 is a detail elevation, partly in section, showing the upper andlower door slections closed'instead of open as in Figure In the drawingsabove briefly 1 described, the numeral 1 designates-the wall at one sideof an elevatorshaft, while 2 has reference to a door-frame in said wall.The numeral 3 designates a sill of the frame 2which rests upon or may beapart of a floor 4i and the numeral 5 designates an elevator platformmovable within the shaft.

Suitably associated with the door frame 2, are vertical guide tracks 6for a lower door section 7 and in the present showing thesetracks alsoguide an upper'door section 8, the twosections being connected by cables9 trained over sheaves 10 so that the one counterbalances the other. p I

, All of the parts so far mentioned may be of any conventionalconstruction and it is to be understood that as far as the presentinvention is concerned, only the lower door section 7 is necessary,asthissection alone co-operates with the sill plate 12 which is adaptedto bridge the gap betweenthe floor 4 and the elevator '5. he plate 12 inthe present showing, is hinged at 13 to the sill. 3 and by means ofcables 14 trained over sheaves 15 and weights 16, this plate is normallyraised to the position shownin Fig-3 ure 3, being limited inits upwardswingby any preferred means, such asa' stop 17.

When the plate is in this position, the lower door section 7 is eitherentirely or partially raised. I provide this section however with meansto engage the sill plate 12 and automatically lower it to a positionabove the door section when the latter is lowered, as

will be seen by reference to Figure 2. In

the presentshowing, this means is in the form of a pair of hooks 18carried by the ,door section 7 and receivable in slots 19 with which thefree edge of the sill plate 12 is formed. When the door section 7lowers, the hooks 18 hook over the inner end walls of the slots 19 andpull downwardly, upon the sill plate 12 until the door section iscompletely lowered and the sill plate stands in the horizontal positionshown in Fig. 2. In this position, the sill plate rests upon theelevator platform 5 and efiectively bridges the gap between thisplatform and the floor whereby trucks and the like may be readily rolledfrom one onto the other. As soon as the door section 7 is raised, thesill plate 12 '12 onto the lower door section be seen that closing ofthe door section 7" returns to its normal position against the stop orstops 17 and is held inthis position by the weights 16. v

' In the form of construction shown in Figures l and 5, thedoor frame 2is provided with suitable guides 6 for upper and lower door sections 8and 7 respectively, said sections being counter-balanced and mounted inthe same manner as thesections 7 and 8.

A sill plate 12 fis hinged at l hto thesi-ll "3 to swing outwardly overtheidoor section 7" when the latter is lowered, but instead of providingsaid door section :with means to lower the sill plate 12 I providesuitable manual operating means.

As here shown, this means consists of upper land lower links 20 and '21respectively, .the latter being pivoted at 22 to the sill plate 12*while the former is pivoted at 28 to a suitable fixed part adjacent oneside :of the door frame 2 The two links Qdand '21-.are pivoted to eachother at 24 and an operating rod 25 is connected with one of said links,

being passed through a suitable guide 26in such a position that it maybe grasped :by

v the 'elevato-r'operator. Thus, when the :ele-

vator is stopped'at the proper point,-the mod 25 m'ay be operated tolower thesilli plate will move the sill plate 12 to inoperativeposition, but "if; desired said sill plate may be raised'by operatingthe-rod 25, before said door section is raised.

Attention is directed to the'fact that when the sill plate is raised asseen in Fig.3, it

forms a barrier preventing unauthorized persons from'eas'ilyopening thedoor. It

' also guards the door. against injury which might otherwise occurstriking the same with packing cases, trucks, eto., handled fcarelessly.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,1t Will be seen that'both forms of myinvention are simple and.inexpensive, 'yet that they will be'practicable and in every waydesirable for the purposesintended. Since excellent results may beobtained from the details disclosed, they may well be'followed, andwithin thescope of the invention as claimed, numerous minor changes maybe made.

I claim i v 1. The combination with an elevator shaft doorway includinga sill in the doorway, and a door slidable upwardly "from an openposition below the sill to a' closed position, of a bridge in thedoorway hingedlylnounted at the sill and extending along the sill andacross the upper edge of the door into thoelevator shaft when the dooris in a lowered and opened posit-ion and extending at an upward inclinetowards the outer face iof'the door to guard the lower portion of thedoor when the door isin. a raised and dosing position, and abutmentmeans .car- ,ried by the door for engaging the bridge and swinging thebridge downwardly and over :the door when the door is moved downwardlyto an open position.

3. The structure of claim 2 having the free end portion of the bridgeprovided with a slot extending towards the pivoted end "thereof,theabutment means being in. the form-of a tonguecarried by the door foretending into the slot and engaging the bridge to swing :the bridgedownwardly when the door is moveddownwardly to the. open position.

4;. The structure of claim 2 and counter balancing means for said bridgeto vfacilitate vertical swinging movement thereof.

The combination with an elevator'shaft and a door movable verticallythrough a -floor opening adjacent thesh-aft, of a sillplate mounted inthe door opening andmovable about a fixed axis to and from a posi tionacross the floor opening into and out of engagement with the elevator bythe lowering and raising of the door.

6. The-combination with an elevator shaft and a door movable verticallythrough a floor opening adjacent the shaft, of a sillplate mounted inthe door opening and movable about a fixed axis to and from a positionacross the floor opening into'and out of engagement with the elevator bythe lowering andraisingof the door,and a stop for limiting the openingmovement of the sillplate.

In testimony whereof lhave hereunto at fixed my signature.

CHARLES J. FISCHER.

